UBL’s Water for Life program offering a lifeline to many

Many years ago, beer company, Uganda Breweries Limited launched the Water for Life program to support projects that help combat water poverty by improving access to clean drinking water and sanitation.

This was because many communities in the country have no access to clean, safe water.

Consequently, UBL decided to invest shs4 billion annually into the program and over two million people have benefited through access to clean water.

“We continue to invest heavily in water projects that have positive and long-term impact on thousands of people by reducing the incidence of water borne diseases and by releasing time otherwise spent by women and children in search of water for alternative income generating activities,” said UBL’s outgoing Managing Director, Alvin Mbugua.

For example in 2018, the company constructed over 30 boreholes in Acholi and Lango sub-regions of Northern Uganda targeting sorghum farming communities that supply the brewery with raw material for production.

The company also kicked off efforts to construct public sanitation facilities for the residents and traders in Port Bell and Kirombe areas near the premises of the beer company in Nakawa division.

This came after realizing that residents and fishermen at the landing site had poor sanitary conditions after the only public toilet in the area was destroyed in 2008 and the community has gone without any since then.

Whereas the company had planned to construct toilet blocks for the community earlier, the community couldn’t identify and avail suitable land to house the units.

However the three months project will see modern facilities constructed each comprising four urinals for men, two male toilets, one bathroom, and one male seat-toilet for disabled persons, two female toilets, one bathroom and one female seat-toilet for disabled persons with over 15,000 beneficiaries.

“The project will not only reduce water pollution in the area but also decrease the rampant hygiene-related disease outbreaks amongst the residents, traders, and fishermen of the port bell and Kirombe villages,” officials from UBL said.

In 2020, the beer company commissioned a shs335 million gravity water supply system that will benefit over 2000 residents in Buwali sub-county, Bududa district.

“Uganda Breweries Limited is pleased to be part of a project that will enhance growth in the community through provision of basic and essential necessities such as clean and safe water. By constructing a reliable water supply facility in this area, we hope to ease access to clean and safe water, which will ensure a healthier community,”Mbugua noted during the launch.

Speaking during celebrations to mark 75 years of existence, Mbugua reiterated UBL’s commitment to ensuring communities in Uganda have clean and safe water.

“Each of these efforts towards the environment have something towards building the economy. We can’t stop investing in these efforts that benefit our people. We shall continue seeing that we change lives of people, not only our customers but all communities,” he said.